


Valorous

by Brevity (AmosLee1023)



Category: South Park
Genre: Conspiracy, Human Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Police, References to Drugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 12:23:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16618883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmosLee1023/pseuds/Brevity
Summary: July 5th, 2008. That's the day Bradley Biggel was found dead. Now after ten years of coping with his death, Henrietta is moving on with her life as a child therapist at the school that she herself used to attend; helping others to cope with her own inner turmoil.When her dead younger brother suddenly shows up; alive, unharmed, and still a child despite the years that have passed, she'll have to put herself out there to uncover who exactly killed him. Because whoever it was has a new potential victim, a little too close to home.





	Valorous

**Author's Note:**

> I'm rusty, especially with South Park, but I've been procrastinating everything else and out came... this. Thanks.

**Prologue**

  


“Bradley!”

“Bradley Biggle!”

“Bradley, where are you?”

“Bradley!”

“Bradley,” Henrietta called with her mother, worry lacing her voice but just a slight, because she wasn't weak and she didn't have emotions, because she was a goth kid without worries. But, she had to admit that her brother missing for almost two weeks was... unnerving. “Bradley!”

Nothing. The scent dogs didn't pick anything up, Bradley didn't call out to be found, flashlights flashed everywhere but didn't catch anything meaningful, and the poking sticks didn't find any soft ground.

Soft ground. Scent dogs. Things that only happened when someone was dead. In movies.

“Bradl-” Henrietta took another step and her foot squelched into the ground.

Soft ground.

The girl's dark eyes widened and her breath faltered as everything around her suddenly- slowed. The people, the dogs, the lights- everything seemed to slow in place. Henrietta brought her widened eyes to look at the dogs, and one seemed to be looking at her, its jaw open and slobber flying out. Its eyes stared at her feet, lids moving slowly into a blink; eyes bloodshot and cheeks hanging in the air because it was a bloodhound. Soft ground. Poking sticks. Bloodhounds. In the movies.

It stared at her feet.

Henrietta watched the dog as it made slow, large running steps to her, its eyes blinking but not shifting away from her feet. After what seemed like five minutes, her heart finally took a beat and she looked down at her own feet. And when she saw it, she finally breathed.

A hand. A small hand like her own, sticking out of the ground where she stood. Covered in grime and dirt and small like her own. And she couldn't take her eyes off of it. The color of the skin, and the size of the hand and-

The small, thin fingers suddenly stretched out and grabbed her ankle, and only then did she-

Scream.

Henrietta screamed herself awake, sitting up in her bed and panting to herself, a cold sweat laying over her neck in a sheen. She put a hand to her forehead and gave a deep, shaky sigh to calm her chest down. Then she dragged her hand down her clammy face and looked at her alarm clock.

6:40 A.M.

She sighed again, more together, and cursed at herself before throwing her blanket off of her body.

“Fucking nightmares,” she muttered to herself and sat for a moment, eyes closed and breathing heavily to herself.

A nightmare. One that she hadn't had in... ages. She hated them.

The woman groaned and worked herself out of bed to get ready for the day. A day that would begin with-

l.l

“Okay Suzie, I hear your homeroom teacher is worried about you,” Henrietta said while she took a seat at the small plastic table in her office. Suzie, a little girl with curly blonde, unruly hair, sat at the table with her hands in her lap, thumbs fidgeting nervously and bottom lip puckered as she nibbled her top. Henrietta's knees were already starting to cramp from the short table.

Suzie didn't answer her and kept chewing her lip, something that made her look adorable because her tiny bottom teeth that showed, but worrisome because Henrietta knew that it was actually stress over the particular subject. Of which probably had to with the bruise that Henrietta could see on the crook of the girl's neck.

“Suzie, my name's Henrietta. You know me, I see you around sometimes, huh?” Henrietta spoke and leaned forward on the desk, but then back into her seat to give the child space, because she was going to be one of “those” cases.

Suzie nodded quickly, but her eyes didn't meet the school counselor. Instead, she kept her gaze everywhere but.

Henrietta huffed a little smile of her nude lips and clicked her tongue. “Alright Suzie, how about we go like this; you like chocolate? I bet you aren't allowed to have them at school, huh?”

Suzie's eyes finally, shyly, met Henrietta's, but then she looked away again. “...No,” she replied quietly. Henrietta got up from her constricting seat and walked over to her large desk, where she pulled open the large bottom drawer and grabbed the heart of valentine chocolates that Pete sent her, and then shut the drawer again before bringing the heart of candy over to the child-size table. Putting the box on the surface and pulling the lid off, she took her seat again and looked at Suzie.

“I'll give you one chocolate for every one thing that you help me out with, alright?”

Suzie glanced at the box before letting her eyes wander to Henrietta, a pale blue of Norwegian decent. She looked at Henrietta for a second before looking at the chocolates, untouched by any hand and sitting in the safety of Henrietta's desk, because she wasn't an asshole who would throw them away, despite wanting to. She didn't like chocolate.

“Okay then. Tell me... are you normally late to school? Because it says here...” Henrietta looked at the clipboard in her lap, “That you're a good student, but you've been coming late recently. Can you tell me why?”

Suzie's eyes wandered to the chocolates again and Henrietta smiled. “Go ahead, pick one. But remember what we're doing, okay?” the woman said. The child looked at her and then reached out with small fingers to take a chocolate. She ate it and the sweetness stung her cheeks, making her touch her hands to them. It was cute, Henrietta's heavy soul had to admit.

Once the chocolate melted and dissipated in Suzie's mouth, the girl, more trusting now, said in a shy, quiet voice, “Mommy wakes up late.”

“Alright. Do you know why? Does she... have a favorite drink that she likes to drink a lot? Or, is she really busy?”

Suzie perked and licked some caramel from her bottom lip that had gushed from the over-sweet candy. “She likes her drink, she drinks it a lot,” she said. Henrietta smiled at the girl, though it was a mask. It always was. She looked down at her clipboard and scribbled something down, her pen scraping against the paper. Suzie ate another chocolate.

“Does it smell stinky?” Henrietta asked. Suzie made a noise, but it was just because of the chocolate. Then she answered with a “Mm hm, I don't like it”. Henrietta scribbled again and sat back in her seat to look Suzie's tiny frame over; the bruising on her neck. “So Suzie, does Mommy ever get angry or upset with you? It's okay to tell me, I'm your friend right now.”

Suzie peered into Henrietta's dark eyes before glancing away, and taking her hands with her into her lap. Dammit.

Henrietta puffed another fake smile and looked at the chocolates. “...Alright, it's probably a secret, huh?” she said. She could feel Suzie look at her again, like she was amazed that she knew. Or scared. “We're allowed to keep secrets, that's alright. Especially with our parents- Mommy wants what's best for you, right? Is that what she says?”

Suzie gave a slow, cautious nod.

“Well, Suzie, that's what parents are for. Making sure you get the best. The best schooling, the best dinner, birthday- Christmas presents. But,” Henrietta looked up at the child, “Some parents can't do that. They just get sick. ...Do you think your mommy is sick?”

“...Mommy pukes a lot.”

“Mm, when she drinks her drink?”

“Yeah. Mommy gets sick.”

“Ah. Now, Suzie, go ahead and take my hand. Come on, I don't bite.” Henrietta reached across the table and rest her hand on the surface, fingernails the color of navy blue as she outstretched her fingers to the girl. Suzie brought her small hand up to take Henrietta's, which was bigger and wider than hers. Then the two looked into each other's eyes. “Does Mommy hold your hand like this?”

“...No.”

“Did she used to? Before she started liking that drink?”

Suzie looked down at their hands and her fingers squeezed around Henrietta's hand slightly, like she were feeling her- the warmth, from a caring adult woman. “...Yeah,” the child said softly.

“I see. You know, Suzie, Mommy is sick. You know that, you told me.”

Suzie nodded in agreement, still gazing at their hands.

“But we can get her some help. So she doesn't puke anymore, or wake up late, or get mad. I bet it's scary when she's mad.”

“Yeah,” Suzie said with a shake in her voice. Henrietta started caressing her thumb over the girl's hand.

“Well, it's okay, kiddo. We're gonna make her nice again, alright?”

-

“I hate all of the parents here,” Kyle said and shook his head in frustration. A teacher's aid at nineteen years old for Mr. Mackey. Henrietta sucked her teeth.

“Well, not much you can do. She was a cute kid though,” she said. Kyle cast her a sideways glance, arms crossed while he leaned against an empty locker in the hallway.

“Foster services are never good. “Let's get some beer off of Drunk Suzie”- that's what everyone's gonna say because _you_ let her go.”

Henrietta gave the younger man a look, a glare more sharp than his own famous one. “Not all are bad. And it's a hell of a lot better than growing up here in South Park with a drunkard for a mother. Look at Kenny's dumb ass.”

“Look at Firkle.”

The words came out so smooth and calculated that the two had to stand there for a moment before either could realize what Kyle had said. And just when he did, and he opened his mouth to take it back, Henrietta held a hand up to silence him, of which he shut it again.

“I didn't work Firkle's case. And if I did, I would have made sure he left this damn town. You should know that.”

Kyle closed his eyes and sighed, and then nodded and looked at her again. “...I know, I'm sorry.” Her eyes still held anger from what he had said. He did know better. He was just upset because of all of the kids that she kept sending away from their parents. It was for a valid reason, though. She wanted to protect them. From South Park. From-

“ _They found Bradley,” Stan said over the phone, because Kyle had been home sick and couldn't help with the manhunt. Shocking words, but not more than, “Dead”._

“It's okay,” Henrietta said, but he knew it wasn't. “I need to get my cat from the vet.”

Kyle cracked a smile, but the atmosphere was still tense and awkward. “Kenny's working today.”

Henrietta groaned lowly. “I don't like him.”

“I know. Tell him I said hi.”

Henrietta grimaced and reached out to pat Kyle's fluffy head. “No more animal mating lectures, you scare the kids.”

“It was once!” Kyle scoffed, burying his face into a hand and making Henrietta cackle. Something that she liked to do but didn't do much, because she didn't find happiness easily. “Anyway, why are you getting your cat now? It's not even your lunch break,” the young adult said with exasperation. Henrietta put her hands into her coat pockets.

“They called; pick-up time. And I get some time off to do that paperwork and shit for Suzie and the DHS. Boring stuff, which is why you should stick to... this,” the woman looked Kyle up and down and the redhead rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Gee, thanks. I might want a college degree.”

“It takes effort. And money. And socializing.”

“So?”

“And no pets. So as long as Kenny's in the picture, y-”

Kyle laughed and turned away from the woman to start down the hallway. “Okay, thanks, see you Henrietta.”

Henrietta cracked a half smile as she watched him leave. Then she remembered why she was so open with him: he was the same age as Bradley should be, and she saw him more than any of the others. And then her smile faded and her eyes grew heavy with a seething darkness.

South Park.

She turned to leave the school into her car, so that she could drive to the vet. She wanted to ride a bike to lose some weight, but it was too cold and she was still learning how, at twenty two years old. And this way, she could use the roads quicker.

Quicker, as in to avoid certain people. Pete and Tweek, who worked at Tweek Bros. Cartman, who worked a phone shop so that he could snoop through people's privacy, Firkle, who worked at City Wok.

Firkle. The only one that she felt guilty for hiding out from. He worked all alone in the restaurant, besides with the owner. Guilty, because she didn't help him. Couldn't. Guilty because she felt annoyed with him, like it was his fault he were living a shitty life, though she knew it wasn't.

At least Micheal visited him, but she avoided him, too. Because she was stilled _pissed_ with him. So pissed that she never even realized when she reached the vet.

She did that a lot; let her anger take over. But she was great at hiding it. If it wasn't murdering bad.

The woman climbed out of her car and walked up to the vet, where she pushed the glass doors open to step inside. Kenny's face was immediate, the blonde standing at the counter with a kitten in his hands, because a stray cat had given birth a few days ago to a litter of five, but only three were still alive.

The young man looked at Henrietta and smiled, a tooth knocked out from a motorcycle crash that Henrietta had taken too much of a comedic interest in. Kyle was saving up money to get it put back in, because apparently you could do that. Though Kenny was having too much fun with by whistling.

“Hey, Henrietta, here for Mongoose?”

“It sounds dumb when you say it like that; just Goose.”

Kenny chuckled. “Okay. Craig! Henrietta's here for her-”

“I heard her, you idiot!” Craig called from a back room. Henrietta walked up to the counter and looked at a jar of dog biscuits.

“Kyle says hi,” she said with a flatness that could make anyone bored.

“Oh, really? Aw.” Kenny flipped the kitten onto its back to look at its bloated baby belly. Henrietta shrugged absently, her eyes straying from the biscuits to the animal cages of adoptees. There weren't too many animals, just two cats and a chihuahua. All sleeping. There was another cage of the other kittens, snuggling together in a soft blanket.

Not more than a second later, Craig came in with Goose, a dark brown cat that often was mistaken for being black. The only kid Henrietta would ever own. When she saw her, the cat yowled and Craig passed her to her owner. Craig, Kyle, and Kenny, all three in a polygamous relationship that Henrietta could care less for. Mostly because of Kenny. She just didn't like him.

“She's doing better now, just use this twice a day for about a week until she isn't scratching anymore,” Craig said and held out a spray bottle. Goose had anxiety and wouldn't stop scratching her fur off, or eating it. “And, give her one of these a day. We have food sleeves in case she doesn't eat them,” the noirette added and handed Henrietta a bottle of anxiety pills. He was quoting the actual veterinarian, because he and Kenny were minors in training.

“Thanks,” Henrietta said, petting her cat's head as the feline stretched in her arms, longing for her scent. Kenny clicked his tongue and smiled.

“Ah it's nothing, we-”

“Thanks, bye.”

Craig smiled crudely at her ignorance of Kenny and watched her leave, her cat purring in her arms. She wasn't a douche bag. She just knew her limits.

Driving her cat home, could see someone walking along the road in the snow, but she was too far away to see anything else besides a silhouette. The closer she got, though, she noticed that they were blonde and coatless, walking in the snow. No coat? She slowed her car as she approached them and rolled down the passenger's window to call out to them, but as she reached them and opened her mouth to speak, all voice and breath caught in her throat, snuffing her of air.

A child, with blonde hair and a short sleeve shirt, and bare feet. When the boy looked at her, his blue eyes held nothing but everything, and even more- familiarity. Such a familiarity that the whole world stopped.

Bradley. Bradley Biggle.

Henrietta stared at the boy for what felt like eons, and he stared right back at her, with peircing blue eyes that seemed cold like ice itself. But then she blinked, in shock, and when she opened her eyes again-

he was gone.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to do a SP spin on an original work of mine: [Life Was Known](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15875832/chapters/36989973), so I changed up the plot and gave it another spin for our little mother hen. Let me know if you'd like more, thanks.
> 
> And sorry if it's a little short, I was too excited. But it's the prologue, so I guess it's not short??


End file.
